The miracles of modern medicine continue to amaze. Cardiac implantable electrical devices (CIED's), which include implantable pacemakers, defibrillators, and implantable loop recorders, have been around for decades, and utilize the latest in electronics and computer technology. Such technology allows for small size, precise operation, increasingly improving battery longevity, recording of diagnostic data, and tailoring of operating parameters to individual patient needs. The end result is that millions of patients in the US, and abroad, benefit from CIED's with hundreds of thousands of new patients receiving implants every year. This results in an unusual challenge to healthcare providers who are caring for patients with CIED's.
Healthcare providers commonly require accessing of CIED diagnostic data and performed using RF telemetry enabled programmers supplied by the various manufacturers of the CIED's, which are not compatible with other manufactures CIED's. This has created an interesting dynamic within the healthcare world where trained programmer operators (often manufacturer representatives) are frequently called into clinical settings to use their programmer to interact with a patient's CIED and then provide valuable device information to the overseeing healthcare provider. This reliance on trained programmer operators occurs in virtually every clinical setting imaginable including physician offices, hospital settings, long-term care facilities, nursing homes, outpatient surgery centers, and emergency rooms. Typically, these trained programmer operators are not on site in these settings, so quick identification of a patient's CIED manufacturer is a necessary first step to facilitate notification of the appropriate programmer operator in a timely fashion. Despite significant advances in device related technology, methods for CIED manufacturer identification remain antiquated and have not kept pace with our evolving healthcare system that relies on efficiency to reduce cost and improve patient outcomes. Current methods for CIED manufacturer identification include identification cards carried by the patient, directly calling all CIED manufacturers and having them look up the patient in their databases, or chest x-ray. Identification cards are often lost by the patients or left in a wallet or purse that is not with the patient in the clinical setting. Frequently, the provider must make a guess regarding the CIED manufacturer during a patient visit, but this method may require a phone call to as many as all CIED manufacturers prior to appropriate identification of the correct manufacturer. This is a time consuming process that can utilize anywhere from fifteen to forty five minutes (15-45 mins.) of a healthcare provider's time. A chest x-ray is not only a source of unnecessary radiation exposure as well as cost, but it also is not a definitive method for manufacturer identification. In the end, current methods for CIED manufacturer identification result in poor utilization of healthcare resources, decreased efficiency, and healthcare dollars unnecessarily wasted on what could be a relatively simple task. Accordingly, there exists a need for a means by which CIED's can be quickly, easily, and reliably identified in order to avoid these problems. The development of the present invention fulfills this need.
DRAWINGS Reference Numerals10apparatus110second antenna11implantable medical device120switching assembly12signature frequency130rechargeable battery20scanner140first set of electrical leads30charging station150second set of electrical leads40central processor160trays50interface170base60display screen180charging port70handle190electrical power cord80wand200powers converted90first antenna210transformers100electrical circuitry220wireless MODEM